


May I Introduce

by Canadiantardis



Series: Tangled Soulmates AU [4]
Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Ballroom Dancing, Flashbacks, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Jschlatt/OFC are Tubbo and Ranboo's parents, Magic, Nobility, One Shot, Platonic Soulmates, Platonic Soulmates Toby Smith | Tubbo & TommyInnit, Prince Ranboo (Video Blogging RPF), Prince Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF), Prince Toby Smith | Tubbo, Prince TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Ranboo & Tubbo are twins, Referenced Past Child Abuse (through flashback), Schlatt is only mentioned omg, Tangled AU, Wilbur Soot and Technoblade and TommyInnit are Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-19 08:35:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29747829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Canadiantardis/pseuds/Canadiantardis
Summary: The day of the ball is at hand.Tubbo doesn't feel ready.
Relationships: Jschlatt & Ranboo & Toby Smith | Tubbo, Ranboo & Toby Smith | Tubbo & TommyInnit, Ranboo & Toby Smtih | Tubbo, Ranboo & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Toby Smith | Tubbo & TommyInnit
Series: Tangled Soulmates AU [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2160699
Comments: 25
Kudos: 150





	May I Introduce

**Author's Note:**

> So I know originally this was supposed to be about the festival, but as I went about writing the previous one-shots, and started this one, I kinda realized it would be absurdly long, and there wasn't actually... any focus I could think of for the festival aspect? Soooo, uh, enjoy the ball~

It was the day of the ball, where Tubbo would be officially introduced as the lost son - lost _prince_ \- of King Schlatt and Queen Adelaide to the world. The closer the time got to his introduction, to the beginning of the ball, the faster Tubbo’s heart raced with an unknown anxiety.

He wore a fitted suit, and in the mirror he had to admit he looked very handsome as the clothes made him look more like a young adult rather than a child. It was a black jacket and slacks with a dark forest green vest under that, a white button-up, and the same dark green for a tie that he was helped with getting on properly. His hair was carefully brushed, though he had ruffled it himself so it didn’t feel too weird with the circlet resting heavy on his head.

Ranboo stood beside him. He hadn’t left his side since they had returned home. Helping him with remembering the lessons their mother would suddenly spring on him. He wore a similar suit, with a striped forest green and dark red tie. He wore no mask - Tubbo had only recently learned he wore a mask when he was going to be leaving the castle gates so people wouldn’t automatically recognize him, yet saw no reason to cover his striking hair - but looked like he really wished he could. He, too, wore a circlet, but whereas Tubbo’s was solid silver with little jewels of ruby and citrine embedded, Ranboo’s was golden, to signify who was the crowned prince - gold - and who wasn’t - silver.

Tubbo was just a bit relieved he wasn’t the crowned prince, when he learned of the extra lessons and duties Ranboo had to do that he didn’t have to since he wasn’t going to inherit the Kingship. He was barely keeping up with just the regular princely duties he was supposed to be learning.

Ranboo took a deep breath and straightened up, glancing at Tubbo with a raised eyebrow. “Ready?”

“No,” Tubbo shook his head slowly before picking up speed and he had to take deeper breaths as his suit felt tight.

“Hey, hey, it’ll be okay. You have me. Tommy’s gunna be right beside you once the formalities are over with,” Ranboo reassured, gently moving his brother to look at him, and mismatched eyes met mismatched eyes. “Mom and Dad will be nearby, and if anything bad tries to happen, there are guards and trained staff who will protect you. It’ll be okay.”

Tubbo nodded along to his words and managed to find air for his lungs. He grabbed his brother’s arm tightly to ground himself until he felt good enough to push through, reminding himself over and over everything Ranboo said. _He’d be okay, he’d be okay, he’d be okay._

“It’s only for the one day, and then we have the festival, which is going to be so much better in every way,” Ranboo reminded.

“Yeah, yeah, okay,” Tubbo breathed, nodding quickly before he let go of his brother’s arm and straightened up, going through the motions of shoulders up, then back, then down and took one last deep breath to steady himself. “Let’s get this over with, yeah?”

“Exactly.”

The two left the room together and headed down the hall, where their mother sat in a chair off to the side of the large closed doors to the ballroom. She wore a wine-red ankle-length dress and simple sandals, a dainty tiara intertwined with her hair, done in a fancy braid-bun. She caught sight of them and stood up, knocking on the door.

“You two look dashing,” she cooed once they reached her side, cupping their faces one at a time. “They’re about to announce your presences, before they announce your father and I’s, even though he’s already through the door.”

“Right, yeah,” Tubbo wished his stupid heart would slow down as he stared at the door like it would come to life and do something bad.

“Deep breaths, Tubbo. Don’t let anyone know you’re scared,” Addie dropped her hands from his face to his upper arms, and for a moment Tubbo thought she would grip him and couldn’t stop the wince from showing on his face.

“Introducing His Royal Highness, Crown Prince Ranboo. Debuting to the world, introducing His Royal Highness, Prince Tubbo.” A voice boomed from the other side of the door, and before he could process it, Tubbo and Ranboo had the door opened for them and they stepped through to the ballroom.

The urge to curl up the moment Tubbo saw all the eyes on him was almost too great to ignore, but his mother’s voice whispered encouragements in his head, soothing the fears for the moment as he stood side-by-side with Ranboo at the main entrance of the ballroom. There were men and women several feet away, standing almost in a half-circle around the door while others further away were slower to stop and look over.

Ranboo took the first step, walking towards the middle of the half-circle, where an older man bowed first, raising his hand which Ranboo took once he stood back up for a firm shake. Tubbo barely heard the muttered “your highness” from the man before it was his turn.

He heard voices speak, Tubbo was certain of that, but he heard nothing specific. He knew people were telling their names, greeting him, but he went a little on muscle-memory of what he was supposed to do.

He only stopped when he heard his parents’ names be announced, and then that was when the ball officially went underway.

A young woman, maybe a year or so older than Tubbo, with dark brown hair in loose waves down her back and wore a simple black-to-white gradient dress, approached and offered a hand. “Care for a dance, Your Highness?”

All Tubbo could do was glance at Ranboo before he was practically whisked away from him and onto the dancefloor, and the music was playing and Tubbo was almost led through the dance by the woman.

“I have to admit, I hadn’t even known Prince Ranboo had a twin, just where had you been for the last couple decades?” She asked with a slight warm smile. She had a genuine curiosity in her eyes when he looked at her closely - rather than at their feet to avoid stepping on hers or something equally embarrassing - and she didn’t give off any judgement.

“I was, uh, taken when I was a baby. I didn’t know I had a twin until the lantern festival,” he answered. He remembered he was to be vague about most of the story, because the less people who knew the whole story, the better, though Tubbo wasn’t sure entirely why. He trusted his parents’ judgement for the most part, and had an idea it was to not let anyone have too much knowledge that could be used against the family or the nation.

The young woman twirled them around, though when he looked at her face, she was frowning. “That’s horrible, how did you get back here?”

“Uh, kind of an accident, really. It’s hard to explain,” he shook his head.

“Oh? Well, I’m glad that you have returned home, in any case,” the music was drifting off and she took a step back with a wide smile. “It was a pleasure to be your dance partner, Your Highness.”

“Oh, uh, you too, Miss…?” He wished he had paid attention to if she had introduced herself to him or not.

“Andrea,” she offered gently, before she curtsied and walked away. Not even a second after she had stepped away from him had a small group of various people surrounded him asking for a dance or a chance to speak.

He could barely see Ranboo or Tommy at the edge of the dancefloor, one with an amused expression and the other with a thinly veiled pout as they chatted to one another.

▪️~~ ▪️~~ ▪️~~

Tubbo could barely feel his legs, an hour later, and he finally managed to get close enough to his brother and soulmate for them to easily pull him away.

He took off the jacket and rolled up his sleeves, feeling much too warm after the countless dances he participated in and he almost collapsed into a chair. He couldn’t, however, as people were still wanting to talk to him, some obvious about their distaste for his sudden appearance while others seemed as genuine as Miss Andrea.

A glass was pressed into his hands, and he blinked to see Tommy drinking from a glass of his own. Water. He needed that.

“You’ll get dehydrated if you continue on like a dumbass,” Tommy shook his head, giving a glare to a couple nobles that looked like they wanted to approach but didn’t due to the animosity of Tubbo’s soulmate. “You could also just decline these motherfuckers.”

“I can?” Tubbo questioned, wanting to lay down but he knew he could only do that much later, once the ball was finally finished.

“You know he can’t. He’s not a guest here, he’s the reason they’re all here,” Ranboo countered lightly, which caused the other two teens to barely contain their groans. “This is why I never wanted a ball for myself, and this isn’t even really for me.”

“Don’t remind me,” Tubbo grumbled around the lip of the glass, shutting his eyes for a bit to just enjoy the cool water in his hands.

“Right, after the festival, you’re coming down south with me and my family,” Tommy announced and Tubbo almost dropped his glass in his lap as his eyes shot open.

“Wh-Do I get a say in this?” He spluttered, putting his glass down before he really did drop it.

“We have spent like a total of three days together since we _met,_ man,” Tommy argued with a petulant frown. “I want to know more about my soulmate.”

Tubbo felt like he should argue, but… Tommy had a point. They barely spent time together. He wasn’t sure how soulmates worked, but he could understand why Tommy felt left out. He rubbed his mark on his wrist absently.

“Fine, fine, yeah, sounds like a plan,” he agreed. “We just need to tell our parents.”

“Oh, I already told my dad. He should be telling your parents the idea,” Tommy’s head swivelled around before he lit up and pointed to where the King of the Antarctic Empire was speaking to Schlatt and Addie. Addie noticed the point and waved lightly before she went back to the conversation.

“Of course you did,” Ranboo chuckled lightly, shaking his head.

Ranboo and Tommy began a friendly game of bickering before Tubbo excused himself to use a washroom. A few minutes out of the line of sight of… everyone, would surely do him some good.

He spent some time in the washroom, splashing some water on his face - careful to not let it splash on his suit, he still had to look presentable at all times when he was out there - to cool it down. The ballroom was stuffy, even with a couple of the huge windows open to let in a light breeze, but the water was cool enough to make a difference.

Tubbo took his time to cool off, drying his face and brushing his hair back into place with his fingers, before he glanced at the mirror in the room and deemed himself presentable again. He left the washroom only to almost walk straight into another body.

“Sorry! I wasn’t expecting someone-” Tubbo jumped back to get some space between him and the other, an older noble who was much taller than him - shorter than Ranboo, but Ranboo stole most of the height in the womb, so many people were shorter than him now - a haughty expression that instantly put him on edge and fizzled the apology from his throat.

“The fact you’ve been able to fool people into thinking you’re anything like the royal family is impressive, but you can’t fool everyone,” he said in a low voice, the way he stood in front of Tubbo made him feel like the man was looming in a worryingly familiar way.

“I, I don’t…” Tubbo shook his head, struggling to stop the stutter from getting worse.

“So, how did you do it, huh? Fool the royal family into thinking you were actually blood related? I’ve been a member of the court for longer than you’ve been alive,” he took a step forward and Tubbo saw a different face, a different setting entirely, before he blinked and returned.

“I didn’t, I didn’t fo-”

“Stop lying, kid.” _~~Dream~~ ~~Nightmare~~ Father_ ordered and Tubbo flinched, his back hitting the wall of the cottage in the grotto. “I know the truth, you’re nothing but a lying scammer.”

“I’m not, I’m not ly-” Tubbo stuttered, his head lowered to not anger _Father_ further.

“What’s going on here?” A new voice startled him back to the present and Tubbo almost burst into tears when he realized he wasn’t in the grotto, that Dream was long dead and couldn’t hurt him anymore.

He looked to the newcomer and the urge to burst into tears in relief only grew, his emotions a little frazzled from the flashback. Dark brown hair with a golden circlet nestled over it, rectangular glasses sitting on his face, and the colours of the Empire that Tommy wore. His eyes glanced from the noble to Tubbo, who shook slightly from the encounter.

“Ah, your highness. Surely you see the problem as well?” The noble said, gesturing to Tubbo who flinched at the motion.

Tommy’s brother narrowed his eyes and he walked closer. “And what problem may this be, exactly?”

“This child is a charlatan. A liar trying to get in with the royal family through vile means.”

“Really now? How would he have known the family had been missing a son his exact age? No one other than those the King and Queen deemed worthy were told. I mean, Prince Ranboo never knew he had a brother until this guy was found,” Tommy’s brother reached them, and despite being just shorter than the noble, his presence loomed. “Now, I’m not one to believe in things like Fate, but I saw how Queen Adelaide knew instantly that he was her child. How would you explain that, sir?”

The noble cowed, stepping back from Tubbo and he could breathe, as shaky as it was. “I, I’m not sure, but there’s no way this kid is the unspoken prince.”

“Well, until you can actually get some evidence to support your case, I’d like you to get away from my brother’s soulmate. This second, before I will _regretfully_ have to call for guards to forcibly separate the two of you for the rest of your visit to L’Manburg capital,” there was a smile on his face that sent a chill down Tubbo’s spine, and the look wasn’t even directed at him.

The noble looked like he wanted to argue more, but the look on Tommy’s brother’s face had him take careful steps around him to return to the ballroom in a hurry. The moment he was gone, the two princes let out twin sighs of relief.

“That’s annoying, I was just going to freshen up and I see some big bully," he shook his head, turning to Tubbo with a raised eyebrow behind his glasses. “You okay?”

Instead of answering with a voice that was surely going to give away how he was not, in fact, okay, he hummed and nodded, but even the hum was much too high and fake. His body still shook from the encounter, not that he was too aware of that.

“Right,” Tommy’s brother saw right through him. “C’mon then, I’m not really the kind of guy to comfort people, that’s Wilbur or Tommy’s jobs between the three of us.”

Techno never made a move to grab or put his hands anywhere near Tubbo, yet he still guided him from the washroom to the ballroom, beelining straight over to the table where Tommy and Ranboo were still bickering about some new nonsense. Tommy saw the two approaching first, and the journey his face went through before landing on concerned was a fast one.

“What the hell happened?” He demanded, getting off his chair as Tubbo and Techno reached them.

“I found that Duke Johns was harassing him right by the washroom,” Techno answered, fixing his glasses as they slipped a bit down his nose. “Your problem now.”

“Wh-hey!” Tommy struggled to keep his voice from shouting.

Techno only waved a hand as he turned back the way they had come from.

“You okay, man?” Ranboo asked, putting a hand on Tubbo’s shoulder. He didn't respond.

“I think this calls for a garden break,” Tommy decided, pulling the twins up and between the groups of nobility around the ballroom until they were outside and heading for the garden, a place the guests weren’t allowed to enter.

The fresh air was just as nice as splashing himself with water in the washroom, and the trio sat on the big bench that had been recently added to the garden, Tubbo in the middle between his twin and his soulmate.

“Seriously, Tubs, are you okay?” Ranboo asked again once they had settled on the bench. “You were practically shaking like a leaf when Techno brought you to us.”

“What did that jerk Duke Johns say?” Tommy asked - well, more like a demand, but there was only genuine concern in his voice - crossing his arms over his chest.

Tubbo blinked several times and shook his head with a strained smile. He didn’t want to worry them with stuff his mind was making up. Dream was dead and gone and couldn’t hurt him or his family again. The similarity between him and the noble was just the tone, nothing else and it was stupid to have gotten into a fright over nothing. “I-it’s nothing, really. He just, uh, he thought I was lying. Nothing big, like I said.”

He did not look at either one of them, so he did not see the suspicious glances he got from both.

“Are you sure?” Ranboo pressed.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. I just wasn’t expecting it. I’m good.”

_Maybe if he said it enough, he’d believe his own words._

▪️~~ ▪️~~ ▪️~~

The rest of the ball went relatively well. The trio stayed out for maybe ten minutes before a guard came to collect them, saying it was time to eat, and they had a large formal dinner. Tubbo was just a little proud he remembered all the appropriate utensils for which meals and the rules he had to follow, and it was a little better as the night went on. He still had to dance with people who asked after eating until Tommy or Ranboo would be able to save him and let him rest. They also kept an eye on him when he wanted to leave for air, acting as a buffer to any other noble that may be around to avoid another confrontation, before finally, _finally,_ the night was winding down and he was allowed to retire.

He barely got out of his suit and into a soft and long nightshirt before he was out like a matchstick the moment his head touched his pillow.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! I always look forward to hearing back from people, and if you don't know what to say, you can follow any of these feedback options, and I'll be sure to answer!  
> Feedback
> 
>   * Short comments
>   * Long comments
>   * Questions
>   * “<3” as extra kudos
>   * Reader-reader interaction
> 

> 
> If you have any suggestions about other possible one-shots I should write, leave a comment down below! The current list I have is as follows:  
> Soulmate Bonding - Tommy /totally/ isn't jealous he hasn't spent much time with his soulmate.  
> Nightmares - Happy endings don't mean the trauma is suddenly gone  
> Magic Lesson - Tubbo learns actual magic practices, and maybe the twins learn a new trick together
> 
> (why yes, yes I will be basically copy-pasting the list at the end until I'm done with it)


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